MOOSE, Wyo. — Mount Moran is one of the iconic mountains in Grand Teton National Park, and, while its namesake was one of the most notable painters of the West who contributed to the creation of Yellowstone National Park, the artist and the peak that bears his name didn’t cross paths.
According to the National Park Service (NPS), “He visited the west side of the Teton Range, but never saw the mountain named for him.”
Thomas Moran’s career kicked off after he accompanied the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, exploring the area that became Yellowstone National Park. Moran contributed to Congress’ decision to establish the first national park by capturing the uniqueness of the area; his paintings and William Henry Jackson’s photographs validated the reality of Wyoming.
“Moran helped to verify that some of these things they thought were unimaginable were more real.”
Tammi Hanawalt, curator of art at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
“People were having a lot of trouble believing that this landscape actually existed,” says Tammi Hanawalt, curator of art at the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA). “Moran helped to verify that some of these things they thought were unimaginable were more real.”
“His work made people want to see the west for themselves and ensured that generations of artists would be able to access and engage with the natural beauty of this area in, essentially, the same way he had,” Kennis Forte, associate curator of art at NMWA, says.
Moran later viewed the Tetons from the Idaho side, although didn’t produce many depictions of the Teton range.
According to Hanawalt, Moran’s contribution to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem happened “almost by accident.” He was Hayden’s third choice for the expedition.
“Moran had never ridden a horse, only camped once and was unaccustomed to camp food,” the NPS says of the painter on his first survey experience.
Yet his contribution to the team is undeniable, since the NPS also says the Hayden Survey of 1872 named Mount Moran in his honor a year after Moran had joined them out west.
Hanawalt points out that despite Moran’s success and lasting impact in history, viewing his paintings in a more contemporary context can bring attention to the lack of native people in his landscapes and how he puts pieces of geography together that aren’t actually together in real life, sometimes layering different features in a condensed depiction. Hanawalt says that was typical of western landscape artists at the time, including Albert Bierdstadt and Alfred Jacob Miller.
